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Google Searches for a Mobile Answer (Update 1)

Written by: Chris Ciaccia04/12/12 - 10:13 AM EDT

Tickers in this article:
RIMM GOOG AAPL MMI

Updated from 1:08 p.m. EST to provide additional analyst comments in the third and fourteenth paragraphs.

NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Google(GOOG) has vastly underperformed since the start of 2012. Shareholders hope the company's first-quarter results on Thursday can be a catalyst for the stock to move higher.

Since the start of the year, Google shares have lost 1.99%, compared to a 15.79% gain in the Nasdaq. Weakness in Europe, concerns over its relationship with Apple(AAPL) in mobile search and potential issues with Google's pending Motorola Mobility (MMI) acquisition have weighed on the stock.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes that investors will want to focus on the Motorola acquisition, despite Google's penchant for not mentioning it. He believes the best option for Google is to ultimately sell the hardware business, in order not to upset Android partners. Munster rates Google shares "overweight" with a $675 price target.

When Google reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings , there were concerns that perhaps the company is expanding into too many ventures, many of which are not driving meaningful revenue, such as the much-maligned social network, Google+. Google CEO Larry Page recently said the social network has over 100 million users (though there has been discussion about how many of these are active users).

During the fourth quarter, Page announced plans to consolidate many of the company's ventures. A prime example of this strategy was Google's app store, now renamed Google Play, encompassing music, apps, videos and games.

There have also been concerns that Google's nascent search advertising business is struggling to grow, prompting speculation drastic action may be needed, such as buying Twitter. In the fourth quarter, Google reported a profit of $9.50 per share on revenue of $8.13 billion. Total revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs or revenue Google shares with its partners, was $10.58 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were looking for a profit of $10.49 per share on $8.4 billion in revenue.

J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth believes that the quality of ads are changing for the better, but that could weigh on cost-per-click, a key metric, in the short run.

"Designed to be net revenue positive, search and ad changes are continually rolled out and the net impact to individual metrics can vary quarter to quarter," Anmuth wrote, in his research note. "Google commented on its Inside Search blog that approximately 107 search quality changes were made in the quarter (17 in January, 40 in February, 50 in March)." He rates Google shares "overweight" with a $686 price target.